GOKAL CHAND Vs. PARVIN KUMARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the judgment and decree of the High Court of Punjab at Simla reversing the judgment and decree of the Senior Subordinate Judge of Kangra in a suit instituted by the appellant for a declaration that he was the sole lawful heir of one Musammat Ram Piari, whom he alleged to be his wife, and as such was entitled to the properties left by her, and for possession of those properties. The suit was instituted against 2 persons, namely, Parvin Kumari, who was alleged to be the daughter of the plaintiff by Ram Piari, and Shrimati Raj Kumari, who were respectively impleaded as defendants Nos. 1 and 2.

(2.) The case of the plaintiff as set out in the plaint was that he was married to Ram Piari, the daughter of an employee of Raj Kumari (defendant No. 2) about 22 years before the institution of the suit, that after marriage she lived with him at Hoshiarpur and gave birth to a daughter, Parvin Kumari (defendant No. 1) on the 4th March, 1929, and that Ram Piari died in April 1941 leaving both movable and immovable properties which she had acquired in her own name with the aid of his money and which had been taken possession of by Raj Kumari. He further alleged that he was a Rajput by caste belonging to tehsil Garshankar in the District of Hoshiarpur, and was governed by custom in matters of succession, and according to that custom, he, as the husband of the deceased Ram Piari, was entitled to the movable and immovable properties left by her to the exclusion of Parvin Kumari, her daughter.

(3.) The suit was contested by both Parvin Kumari and Raj Kumari, and both of them denied that the appellant had been married to Ram Piari. Their case was that the properties in suit were acquired by Raj Kumari with her own money for Ram Piari, that the latter had made a will bequeathing them to her daughter, Parvin Kumari that the appellant was not governed by custom, and that in any event the alleged custom could not apply to the personal and self-acquired property of Ram Piari. As regards 2 cars which were also included in the list of properties claimed in the plaint, the case of Raj Kumari was that they belonged to her and that the deceased was only a benamidar.